Category Archives: The fight for quality
Plan for your R&D Tax.
There is a life cycle for any product, and it is much shorter on average today than five years ago, especially in the technology world. Companies that are successful with their first product must begin thinking about the costs of … Continue reading
Move your team from competence to excellence.
When a new CEO or manager is hired into a company, for a while lots of energy flows from the top and new ideas seem to be generated daily. It is one reason not to fear the unknown when upper … Continue reading
Get to your goal by the most direct route.
There is more money lost in businesses today from inefficient processes than any other single area. Yet this is not a place where most managers feel comfortable deconstructing and rebuilding. Somewhere out there is a consultant or future employee (or … Continue reading
Review regularly and ACT upon results.
Allowing small problems to escalate into big ones is simple. Just ignore the signs for long enough and the job is done. It takes far more energy to review regularly the key performance indicators you’ve established for each individual … Continue reading
Fire fast, not last.
Here is one that takes a real leap for a younger manger or CEO to believe. After hiring someone with all of the attendant enthusiasm followed by the training and learning curve, if an employee shows signs of weakness in … Continue reading
Know and avoid “time bankruptcy.”
Time bankruptcy results from the deliberate over-commitment of core resources. I created the term “time bankruptcy” almost thirty years ago when the computer software business was young, and I was a software developer building a young company based upon … Continue reading
No second chance to create first quality.
Let me illustrate this insight with a personal story. As my enterprise computer software company which produced innovative lodging systems for hotels and resorts grew quickly, we found ourselves straining to keep up with the hiring and training of … Continue reading
Haste makes waste; but to lag is to sag.
Here we examine the relationship between time, quality and competitiveness. If you are getting the impression from these many insights that complex relationships cause simple problems, you are right. We have heard the “haste makes waste” ditty since … Continue reading
Wasted time is money lost. (And another story of lost opportunity.)
There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this … Continue reading
Greatly excceed your customer expectations.
First customers are critical. Greatly exceed expectations at all costs. There is so much history behind this insight, and so many stories that illustrate this point. Your first customers for any product or service form your reference base, the important … Continue reading